ABOUT THE EVENT
Please join us for this talk by SOAS Alumna Naciem Nikkhah and SOAS's Dr. Heather Elgood (MBE) And Dr. Malcolm McNeill of the SOAS Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art program.
Cutout papers with calligraphy often border single sheets of drawing and painting from the Safavid period (1501–1736) in Iran and the Mughal empire (1527–1857) in India. While some of these images are signed or can be attributed stylistically to an artist, the calligraphy and the page compositions are difficult to date with certainty. Mounted on illuminated margins and often bound into an album, the period and the geographical location in which these compositions were produced span several centuries and across geographical boundaries.
This talk will discuss the relationship between word and image in such folios and argues that with a close reading of the text and understanding its accord with the image, some hypotheses can be proposed on the time and place of its compilation. Furthermore, the possible origins of the design and compilers of such compositions will be explored.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER - Naciem Nikkhah
Naciem Nikkhah holds an M.A. in the History of Art and Archaeology from SOAS, University of London, and a BFA from San Francisco Art Institute. She is putting the final touches to her Ph.D. thesis in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on the interwoven dialogue between literary and visual language in Persian manuscripts, especially the single-page album-style paintings of post-fifteenth-century Persian and Persianate societies.
Currently she writes content for an education technology startup in San Francisco, which uses AI-powered robots to teach language skills to children. Previously, Naciem was a research assistant at the British Museum, taught at San José State University, and worked as an independent curator in Northern California.
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